NASCAR Drivers and an Astronaut

Last Friday a group of NASCAR drivers came to the area to tour NASA Langley and the Air and Space Museum.  I briefly met them when they visited the Digital Learning Network.

NASCAR Drivers and the great people I work with at the DLN!

For the past couple days I have been so busy and consumed with my work that time has seemed to pass very quickly.  On Monday I thought it was 1pm when it was actually 4... time to go!

Karen and I have been going through the national standards for math and science and placing specific standards on activities in order to organize the activities and make it easier for teachers to pick a relevant lesson to what they are teaching.  We have also been creating a PowerPoint template for Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) involved with Virtual Visits, which is a program where the SMEs explain to secondary school students how their careers relate to nationwide STEM standards and what classes and degrees the students should pursue if they are interested in a similar career for themselves.  I have also been working on a PowerPoint presentation and a rundown for my module, which I have decided to call Pulsar Algebra. 


Today Roger Crouch, an astronaut from Tennessee, came to Langley to speak.  His lecture was incredibly interesting. When he was ten years old, before any human had been to space, he watched a movie about the moon and became determined to go to space.  Once he was old enough, he began applying to be a pilot in the military but was rejected from every position because he is colorblind.  He then continuously applied to be an astronaut and never received a response.  Crouch eventually got a job researching at NASA Langley. One day he asked about being an astronaut and NASA told him he was too colorblind to be a pilot, but that they do occasionally send payload specialists to space to conduct science experiments.  Because he was determined, he began applying to be a payload specialist astronaut.  In 1996 his persistence paid off because he finally went to space... twice! He had a three month period between each mission, which is the shortest time an astronaut has ever been before going back to space.   His stories about the training and living conditions were hilarious.  He talked about his anxieties when the launch date approached, how his body redistributed its mass towards his face when he experienced microgravity, and how he chose to sleep by just floating around even though most people strap themselves down.  It was one of the most entertaining lectures I have ever heard. The NASA staff had to make the interns leave after an hour because no one wanted to go.  


I am still learning every day and I cannot wait to use all of my new knowledge in the classroom!  


Fun fact: Because of its composition, if Jupiter's mass were 80 times greater, it would be a star! 

Roger Crouch